Strip lines enable you to highlight a section of a chart area axis. Strip lines can be added once at a specific point on an axis or be repeated at regular intervals. The following example shows a line chart with a strip line on the X-axis, which is positioned at 60 days and is 14 days wide:
Chart with a strip line on the X-axis.
To add and configure strip lines in an axis, open the Strip Lines panel in the Chart Area Axis interface:
Configuring strip lines in a chart area axis.
To create or edit a strip line, click Add or Edit respectively. Both options will open the Chart Area Strip Lines interface, where you can configure the strip line.
Configuring a strip line.
This interface consists of several panels, some of which are themselves split into multiple tabs. The first of these is Strip Line, which contains the following options:
- Strip Line Title - The title to display on the strip line.
- Strip Width - The width of the line. The units used default to the format of the axis, so a strip line with a width of 0 will appear as a single, solid line.
The Appearance panel contains three tabs where you can edit the strip line's visual settings. These tabs provide the following options:
- Title Appearance - Settings for the strip line's title, including the font, text size, and style. You can also set the title's alignment and orientation within the strip line.
- Background - Settings for the strip line's background. This can either be a solid colour or a gradient using two different colours.
- Border - Settings for the strip line's border. You can set the border width, style, colour, and transparency.
Next is the Interval panel, which contains the following options:
- Interval - Controls the frequency of the strip line. Setting this to -1 or 0 will create a single strip line on the axis. Entering a number greater than this will create a repeating strip line, which will be positioned at intervals spaced accordingly to the value specified here.
- Interval Type - The type of interval to use.
- Interval Offset Type - The type of offset to apply to the interval.
- Interval Offset - Determines where the strip line—or first instance, if using a repeating strip line—will appear on the axis.
- Strip Width Type - The format to apply to the strip's width.
Finally, the Interactivity panel contains a single option for applying a Tooltip to the strip line. Simply enter the text you want to appear when the user hovers over the line on the chart.